Fourteen Years Premature
by DevJeb4700
Summary: Sakura finds herself thrust into a familiar, yet new world. She is born fourteen years before she should have been, and it unnerves her. Major AU; Slight OOC KakaSaku
1. Prologue

"Admit it, if you met me and we were the same age, you would like me."

"What?" Sakura lifted her head from the ground. Propping herself on her elbow, she looked at her former mentor, confusion and slight amusement written on her face. Raising her voice a little bit, so she could be heard over the fighting in the clearing next to them, she asked, "What makes you think that?"

Hatake Kakashi removed his gaze from her to focus on his three subordinates as they fought. He noted that despite not having as many advantages as the other two, Sai was using his mind, as well as his Ink Creatures, and looked to be winning. Then again, Sasuke and Naruto were forced to limit themselves to keep it fair. "Back in my Genin days, I was quite like Sasuke was. Aloof, moody, and anti-social."

"You're still anti-social." She said quickly, adding that she was no longer a Genin so what she preferred then did not matter now. She paused, a smile lacing over her lips as she calmly stated, "I think if I met you, and we were the same age, I would hit you. Hard, probably." Catching his eye, which had been directed towards her again, she offered a kinder smile than what had previously graced her lips before she had spoken.

"Why?" He studied her face for a full minute, before turning back towards the battle. Despite it having initially been a one-on-one-on-one, Sasuke and Naruto were ganging up on the newer addition to Team Kakashi, but Sai was holding his own fairly well. From what Kakashi should see, he had a smile on his face, but it was probably fake.

"Because you're a jerk now, and you were probably a jerk back then, too!" She giggled, allowing her head to fall back onto the plush grass. "Ughn. ." She mumbled, her ear catching on a sharp stone that she hadn't realized had been beneath her. Rubbing the soft skin gently to cleanse it of blood, she watched Kakashi, waiting for an answer.

"And Sasuke wasn't, and still isn't?" He cocked his visible eyebrow up in mock surprise. He reached for her, his hand tightening around her arm. He tugged her towards him gently until she was close enough for him to reach across her and grasp her other arm, before pulling her towards him. He spread his legs and propped her against his chest, leaning in to inspect the small injury.

She flushed deeply at the position, but didn't squirm away. "It's fine, Kakashi-sensei. It's not bad enough to waste chakra on, and it certainly doesn't deserve attention." Scowling as he dismissed her words to continue playing with the fringed skin to clean the dirt from the bloody tissue, she added, "It doesn't matter what Sasuke-kun is or isn't, I'm not interested in him."

"Mm." Kakashi hummed, turning to rummage in his pouch for a small canteen of water.

Sighing, she gently barked, "It's true, I'm not." She stopped as she felt the cool water touch her sensitive skin, washing away the blood better than her sweaty fingers had done minutes ago. Turning back to the previous subject, she smiled warmly, "Although, maybe I could change you for the better? I could totally make you social if we were both Genin-aged when we met, Kakashi-sensei!"

She hadn't realized he was leaning in so close until he chuckled, his warm breath brushing against her ear. She winced lightly, but he misinterpreted it, "Does it hurt?" When she shook her head, he continued removing the dirt, grass, and blood from the wound, although noticeably gentler, this time. "I'm sure you could, Sakura, I'm sure you could."

Her head whipped towards his, his lips so close to hers, she could feel his breath. Moving her head back to give them a little bit of space, she narrowed her eyes and snapped, "Don't give me that tone, Sensei-Sarcastic!" She inwardly cringed at the awful name she had just given him, but on the outside was firmly reprimanding him with the menacing look in her eyes.

Giving her a happy eye-crease, her used his hands to turn her head away, pulling a bandage from a first aid pouch. His brow furrowed as his eye caught sight of a few small and thin packages, realizing he should have used the medical wipes. Shrugging his shoulders, he placed the smile bandage around the cut on her ear, exhaling softly, "It is a shame we couldn't have met at a time where I was born fourteen years later, or you fourteen years earlier, though."

She was about to comment that he had become a ninja way ahead of schedule anyway, when she noticed how gloomy and dark the clearing was. The sun had dipped beneath the clouds on the horizon, and the only light available was either being emitted from Konoha's many lanterns, or coming from chakra the boys were using.

"Oh," She sucked her cheek into her mouth, biting on the fleshy bit nervously. Kakashi tapped her face gently, warning her not to bite too hard, if at all. She released the inside of her cheek from the grip of her teeth, and hastily spoke, "It's getting late, isn't it sensei?"

He had noticed the disappearing sun as it went, but her voicing it made him sigh a little harder, "Yeah, and they don't look like they're going to be done anytime soon."

She started to get up, making it known to him that she would stop the combat training, but he took her hand in his, and gently pulled her back down. Sakura looked at him quizzically, but he ignored it. "They'll burn out of energy eventually, Sakura. Just let them do it, or it'll be twice as bad tomorrow."

"Eh? Sensei, we don't have training tomorrow."

"I know. I'd like to keep it that way." She let out a soft noise, indicating her agreement. He fidgeted lightly, trying to ensure she was comfortable while he arranged himself to be. Falling on his back, Kakashi entwined his fingers together, placing them behind his head. "Don't call me 'Sensei', Sakura. I'm not your teacher anymore, and that honorific makes me feel old-er, older than I already am."

"You're not old Kakashi-sens-" She cut herself off, feeling his light glare rather than seeing it, "Er, Kakashi-san?" Feeling the stare dissipate into nothing, she assumed his eyes were closed. She wanted to lie down, too, but knew that would hardly be appropriate, considering their positions. His knees were still risen on either side of her, and if she were to lay down, her body would be sprawled out on his chest.

Deciding to move out from between his legs, she inched her way forwards, until she rested just between his feet. She sensed his gaze on her, again, but ignored it. Squirming a little bit more, she crawled from where she sat, before resting on his left side. Once she was sure she wasn't too close, and neither her head nor her arm would brush against his elbows, she collapsed onto the ground, her arms tucked beneath her head.

He took note of her position, and after a few seconds, closed his legs, and let them slide on the ground until they were stretched out. His available eye did not close, rather, it took its gaze to the sky, watching and tracing the stars.

After awhile, he noticed it was beginning to grow cold, as the sun took its warmth when it fled beneath the horizon. He looked to his left, and saw that Sakura was fast asleep. A small smile appeared beneath his mask, and he sat up, removing his vest to place it over her. Once done, he went back to his resting position, relaxing in the clear night. Occasionally he heard an explosion, but it seemed the boys were tiring out, as the sounds were not as loud as they had been earlier, and were growing softer and softer.

* * *

Tears dribbled from her chin, her eyes stricken with a terrible grief. Before her, the discarded and damaged body of one of her former mentors, Iruka-sensei, was sprawled out in the bloodied clearing. She didn't want to think of what was around her, the scenes she caught from the corners of her eyes was enough.

"Iruka-sensei," Sakura muttered, her voice quivering with a deep sadness. His face was paled, and blood had been sloshed over his right cheek, traveling to just below his eye. "Iruka-sensei, please."

The chakra that was flowing from her system into her hands did nothing for the dying man. He was too far gone for her to save him. She should have known, he was quite the gruesome sight, and he was one of the better ones. His left arm had been torn from its socket, and the gash running from the side of his chest to his right hip bone was oozing a deep red liquid.

At that moment, she felt very much like her Shishou, Lady Tsunade. Just the color was causing her hands to shake violently, though she tried to steady them, and she felt a growing fear of the sticky substance bubbling inside of her.

"Sak..Ra.." She turned, her eyes widening as she was forced to take in more of the devastation. Sand-nin's, Mist-nin's, and too many other villages had come to try and aide them, but now their bodies littered the blood-tainted soil that had seemed to shower down on them half an hour earlier. Upturned rocks and earth were strewn every which way, and waves, which should not have been anywhere near the glade, lapped thirstily at the soaked grass on the far side of her.

Sakura couldn't locate the owner of the voice she had heard. Too many people were moaning and howling in pain, too many people were screaming for her to come to them, to give her chakra and heal them. Her lip wriggled pathetically as she fought to ignore the familiar voices that came from familiar faces, all agonized and pained. The deep slash in her shoulder was pouring blood, now, but she dismissed it as though it was nothing more than a cut.

She gasped. She heard it again, the voice that was calling for her. Though it sounded soft and hollow, the fact that she knew the owner was practically screaming at her. By then, Iruka-sensei had departed, she knew this because the body beneath her hands had become deathly cold, and the heart had lost all movement.

Scrambling to her feet, she called out for the owner, "Shishou? Shishou!" She limped around bodies beneath her feet, and ducked under those dangling from trees. Soft booms came from all around her, but she couldn't do anything about them.

After several elongated minutes, she found who she was looking for. Kneeling beside the aged woman, Sakura fought hard to stop the tears that flew mercilessly from her eyes. "Shishou.."

The woman beneath her cracked open an eye, studying her for a moment. Sakura shut her eyes tightly, ignoring the body that was Hatake Kakashi, what lay on the left side of her, his hand stretched out towards Lady Tsunade. His body was already stiff with rigor mortis.

"..Kura.." The Hokage choked, wriggled, and writhed. Sakura opened her eyes, but could do nothing more than watch. She knew this woman would never allow her former student to give up the last of her chakra, and her life, for her. Tsunade's breaths deepened with effort as she cleared the blood from her throat.

"Lady Tsunade, please, don't struggle. It will cause more. . ." She trailed off, the chakra she was using to search for the worse of Tsunade's injuries demanded her attention.

"Jutsu.."

She broke from the concentration spell she had administered, watching the dying woman beneath her, her confusion at its pinnacle so far.

Tsunade lifted her hands, and started the seals to a jutsu. Thinking she was trying to perform a suicide jutsu, Sakura pumped most of her chakra into the dying woman's dwindling chakra system, hoping to ease her suffering. Her Shishou ignored her, and after what seemed like a hundred seals, she looked up at Sakura.

A small smile graced her lips, and with the last seal, and the last of her strength, she placed her now glowing hands on Sakura's stomach. Her clothes had been torn and singed in an explosion, leaving large stretches of exposed skin in between thin parts of cloth that used to make up her Jounin uniform.

Sakura gasped, the sound soon dying out into a horrified scream as pain flooded through her body, searing through every inch of skin at once. Her eyes were blinded with white hot pain, and Tsunade's next words were lost on the agonized female.

Sakura opened her mouth, her cry sounding more shrill and annoyed than it had moments ago. With a start, and a lot of confusion, Sakura noticed that there was no pain ripping through her, only the apparent need to breathe.

She found that she could not open her eyes, and her hearing was impaired. If she could hear, however, she would have observed the swooning male next to the female holding her whispering,

"Pink hair? Looks like she's got your great-great grandmother's genes!"

"Yeah," The woman sighed softly, and asked, "What should we name her?"

The man thought for a minute, toying with the soft tufts of hair that poked up from his daughter's head. She wriggled at his taught, her cries becoming quieter. "Well, if we think about her hair..Sakura?"

Sakura stopped crying as her mother rocked her back and forth. Had she been able to open her eyes, she would have not recognized the female as anything but, despite not having known her.

"Sakura..I love it. Welcome to Konohagakure," The female lowered her lips to place a delicate kiss on Sakura's soft forehead. "Sakura."


	2. Chapter 1

"Oh-hayo!" Someone called from outside. Peeking her head outside of her bedroom window, Sakura saw her good friend, Rin Nohara, about to tap onto her front door.

Calling out to her, Sakura greeted her friend, hopping from the window onto the ground, a two and a half foot drop. Not much, but it made Rin look at her oddly, clearly astonished.

"Don't start Kunoichi training without me!" Rin shrieked, running towards Sakura. The pink-haired girl quickly dodged, giggling as she ran from her friend. "Hey, get back here!" Rin yelled, her laughter pumping into her voice. The two raced around for several minutes, stamina wasting away slowly until it wasn't there.

The two fell down far from Sakura's home, but not too far. It hadn't seem like time had passed, but it had quickly drained away in the world far from their game, and time was slipping towards noon. Sakura twisted her head towards Rin, who lay panting with her eyes closed.

Her heart lurched for the young girl. Although Sakura knew this world well, it was not her time. Unfortunately because of this fact, she knew exactly how this girl's story ended. Sakura didn't know the details, but she knew this girl died a noble death, likely before she reached her potential.

"Sakura-chan, why are you staring at me like that?" Sakura snapped from her unhappy daze, focusing more on the present than the future. She opened her mouth to answer, when a flash of green caught her eye.

"Roll, Rin, roll!" She exclaimed, rolling on the dirt road, stopping at a patch of shrubs. She darted beneath the foliage just as Rin began to come towards her. Unfortunately for the other girl, Gai had already caught up with her.

"Dearest Rin-chan!" The boy helped her up, and Sakura noted that although she was trying to stop it, dread was creeping around Rin's face, her sorrow mirroring in her eyes. "Let us perform a challenge to test our strengths and see which one of us is better! Though we are not rivals now, we could be soon!"

Sakura chuckled softly, her tiny hand cupping over her lips to stop the sound from escaping. Rin looked undoubtedly flustered as she tried to come up with an excuse. "Oh, Gai-kun! I'm sorry, I really can't. My..Uh..My cat! You see, she is..Um..Trying to challenge me to a duel! My dad's kunai against her claws! Yeah, I gotta go. Sorry, Gai-kun, maybe next time?"

Sakura laughed harder, forcing her to use both hands to cover her mouth, as Gai responded much as she predicted he would, "Really? A duel between your cat? I must watch, and determine which one may become my rival! I've never thought it would be a cat but..Let's go!" He gripped her arm, and with one last glance towards the bush Sakura had hidden herself in, Rin allowed herself to be dragged off by the energetic soon-to-be ninja.

Sakura snickered, climbing out from beneath the thick leaves. Once out, she began to examine the cuts and scrapes on her hands, trying to determine whether or not they would bleed. Although she had a wide expanse of medical knowledge at her disposal, she didn't fully understand it as much as she felt she should have.

Much too late, she realized there was a pair of sandals in front of her. Her eyes traveled up the owner of the shoes, until she rested her gaze on a masked face, charcoal eyes looking into her own jade ones. "Ooh-er-Oh, hello." She mentally smacked herself in the face for openly gawking at the boy in front of her. Rising to her feet, she nervously picked the leaves from her hair. He looked familiar, but she was sure she didn't know him.

When he didn't answer, and she had picked the last of the troublesome leaves from her head, she studied him openly, if not awkwardly. The dark mask that covered his face intrigued her, and she desperately wanted to yank it down and see what was beneath it. Her fingers twitched at the idea.

The look in his eyes disturbed her, however, stopping her from doing such a thing. He looked hollow, uncaring. She looked away from those eyes, disliking the vibe that came off of him. When she did, she noticed the unruly locks that sat on his head. "Whoa, what's wrong with your hair?" She asked, reaching out to touch them. Were they soft? How did they stay up like that?

He jerked backwards, his voice sounded for the first time in front of her, "Your hair's pink."

She frowned. That much was obvious, she knew what color hair she had. "Yeah, and yours is white! Are you old? You don't look old." He looked as though he was ready to say something else, but his gaze went from her face, to somewhere behind her. She turned as soon as she heard her mother's voice calling for her.

The woman could be seen leaning in the doorway, her hand on her enlarged stomach. Sakura smiled widely, and turned back towards her new friend. "I have to go, but I'll see you around, okay?" She was about to ask his name, when she saw that he was walking away from her.

Shrugging her shoulders, she raced towards her mother.

* * *

"-And he is so cool!" Sakura smiled as her friend continued talking about the team she'd been assigned. "I mean, Kakashi-kun is really distant, but he knows a lot of stuff about being a ninja, and it's so cool!"

Sakura let her head fall against the rough bark. She had realized why the boy from a year ago had looked so familiar, she had seen him around the Academy. While her parents warned her she could not speak to him, surely she could talk about him? "Yeah, I bet he's all that and a bowl of ramen and all, but isn't it annoying?" Catching Rin's eye, her smile dipped into a small frown. "Isn't he all show-off-y?"

Rin shook her head so violently, Sakura feared for a moment that it would fall off. "Nope! He's not very kind, and he doesn't really talk to us, but he doesn't try to show off in front of us! I'm sure that'll change soon, though," Rin tapped her chin in thought. "He has been getting closer to Obito-kun, maybe they'll be rivals and he'll have to?"

Before she could add something else to the conversation, a hand clapped down on Sakura's shoulder. She followed the hand, up the arm, until her gaze met the eyes of the one who owned the body parts.

Might Gai looked down at her, and sorrow began to well deep in her chest. "Ah, Sakura-chan! Speaking of rivals," She cast an agitated glance at her friend before returning her eyes to Gai's, "Let us go off on an adventure to prove which one of us is better, eh?"

She picked his hand off of her shoulder, eyebrow twitching as she made an attempt to smile kindly at the green-clad ninja. "Don't you already have a rival?"

"Yes! Kakashi-kun is my eternal rival, but that doesn't mean I can't have others to help me finally beat my eternal rival! And I think you're the second best ninja to be my rival, so from now on, you are my life-rival!" He gave her his trademarked thumbs up.

Sakura sighed. She felt Rin get up and rush away from the duo. "Let me guess, this is something about 'Not wanting to stray from the springtime of youth by having only one rival'?" She huffed as he exclaimed that she knew him so well. Her hair shook lightly as she let a large gust of air pass her lips.

"Yo." Both heads swiveled towards the newest arrival. The boy who had been spoken of just moments ago made his way over to the duo, stopping a foot away from Sakura. "Don't go pestering others, Gai." Sakura looked up at him, her eyes running over his face, which seemed to lack emotion, as always. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off.

Before he could finish whatever he was going to say, Gai spouted, "My eternal rival! Let us complete a challenge of wits to see who is better!" Sakura felt as though he was going to trap her into something she didn't want to do, and she quickly got to her feet, ready to run away. She was stopped, however, by Gai gripping her hand firmly. He raised her hand above their heads, and yelled, "And the winner will be recognized in the fair Cherry Blossom of Konoha, Sakura's eyes!"

"I don't want that girl." Kakashi snorted as though it was a joke. Inwardly, Sakura fumed softly, an anger she hadn't realized she possessed smoldering inside of her. So he didn't want her? Too bad for him!

"Then I have already won!" Gai exclaimed a little too loudly. Sakura winced, and began pulling on his hand to disentangle it from her own. He held on tightly, and after a few minutes, she stopped trying. Shoulders dropping, she listened to the conversation that was going on between the two boys.

"..Ups? Sit ups? What shall we do to prove the other is better? If you do not want a challenge of wits to take place, then we shall do one of physical ability, one I will surely win!" She noticed Kakashi was eyeing her carefully.

"You can let go of her, now, Gai." He droned, but Gai shook his head so fast, she thought he had given himself whiplash. Sakura's frowned deepened so much so, she was sure she looked absolutely ridiculous. Her hair was sprawled out on her shoulder, and she wondered how much effort it would take to use one's hair to strangle another person.

"She is in this! Where is Rin? She can join in, too! I know exactly what we will do! Kakashi-kun, meet me at the second training ground, I will be right back!" He began to run off, dragging Sakura with him. She felt like screaming, and possibly biting him. While contemplating what to do, she was startled as she was suddenly released, her arms flailing as she fought to steady herself.

Once she was standing on her feet, the threat of falling gone, she saw that Kakashi was in between her and a flabbergasted Gai. "Go find Rin, I'll take her to the training ground." His tone of voice said that this was not open for discussion. Gai agreed quickly, and was off.

Once he disappeared around a corner, Kakashi began walking away from her. She ran up to him, falling in step with him quickly. "Thanks for that, back there. He would have probably run me into the ground." Was that the way that saying worked? Well, it fit what had happened, so Sakura didn't care if it did or not.

"You can go, now." Kakashi looked over at her. She couldn't tell with that darn mask in the way, but she was sure he was frowning. "I'm not going to whatever competition Gai has planned for me, and it would be in your best interest not to, either."

When she realized she was studying his face a little too closely, and for too long, Sakura whipped her head forward. She nodded, and turned, walking to the left, away from the white-headed boy. "Goodbye, Kakashi-kun!"

"Goodbye, pink-headed-girl-whose-name-I-don't-know. Try to stay away from Gai, if you can." Sakura scowled at that name, what kind of name was that? Gai had said her name while addressing Kakashi..

She walked away without a second thought to what he had called her, but she was giving many thoughts to the idea of hitting, punching, or kicking him. She didn't know why she wanted to, though.

* * *

The annoyed look on her face was mirrored by her friend, who sat cross-legged across from her. Sakura's arms were folded over her chest, and her hair was steadily rising and falling at a fast pace.

Beneath her, Kakashi was pushing from the ground before falling. Gai was doing the same, with Rin on his back. While Kakashi looked calm and almost comfortable, Sakura could see that Gai was glaring at the ground, his arms trembling slightly.

"Two hundred and eight..Two hundred and nine.." Rin counted dutifully, although the look in her eyes gave away her less-than-enthusiastic mood. Sakura wondered for a moment if she should say out loud what number Kakashi was on, but thought better of it. Gai already looked like he was struggling, and would surely give up if he heard.

Her thoughts were scattered as the male beneath her voiced his opinion of the situation, "I told you to stay away from Gai." She looked down at him for a moment, wondering what to say in response. Her hair shifted, and covered her face. She pushed it out of the way, and returned her hands and arms to where they had been previous. She knew she had waited too long to respond, but didn't give it too much thought.

The arms around her tightened, and she returned her gaze to the stoic Rin, huffing, "Yeah, well, that's kind of hard. Konoha is big, but not that big!"

"What number am I on?" Kakashi asked. He must have thought it better not to anger the pink-haired girl, lest she take her new-found anger out on him. She waited for him to push from the ground, before quietly informing him that he was exactly one hundred ahead of his rival. "He's not my rival, I'm his. I didn't agree to this."

Sakura removed one of her arms from their position to rub at her eyes, quickly replacing the limb once done. "Yeah, well, neither did I." She wondered why she was so snappy with this male. He wasn't part of the future that she knew, but perhaps that future was just a dream? She didn't remember it too well.

After a few more minutes of silence between them, Sakura noticed the grunting coming from Gai's lips was getting louder, until finally, it was at its loudest. The boy crashed to the ground, Rin quickly getting off of him. Sakura hopped off Kakashi and wandered over to the other two, inspecting Gai for any internal damage.

For as long as she could remember, she was able to pick up injuries using her vast expanse of chakra. It confused her greatly, but it also was a great help at times like this. Once she was sure there was nothing wrong with him, she announced Kakashi as the winner with three hundred and forty two, to Gai's two hundred and thirty seven.

* * *

Sakura's eyes flew open, and an alarming shriek fled from her lips, pain racing through every fiber of her body. Memories and emotions slammed into her mind, rivaling with the memories she had known. Her scream got louder as she took all of the information in.

Every part of her future life was scribbling itself into her mind, and she was rendered helpless in this situation. From the day she was born to the day she was forced back in time, she relived it all, and the pain she felt as her mind was invaded by the offending thoughts, emotions, and memories was enough to leave her nearly immobile.

A door slammed against a wall loudly, but Sakura wasn't sure whether it was coming from real life, or the life playing out in her head. Her grip on the sheets was tightened, her legs flailing and kicking from the bed. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head momentarily as she was forced to deal with this flood of information.

"Sakura! Sakura!" She forced herself to breathe, something that was hard to do while trying to piece together everything. She had glimpses of the future before, like when she looked at Rin or the Fourth Hokage, but it was never to this extent, and she was never sure if it was real or not. This was all too real, all too painful.

Shrill sounds pierced through the air, and she wasn't sure for a moment if it was coming from her or not. Minutes seemed to become days, and after what seemed like far too long, her jaw went slack, and her eyes returned to normal. Pain still pulsed inside of her, but not to the same extent.

Her head hit the pillow, and snapped to the right. In front of her, the fearful and concerned faces of her parents came into view. "Sakura! Sakura...What's wrong? What happened?" She could tell by her father's voice that he knew this wasn't a simple night-terror. She couldn't speak, her breath coming in shallow gasps. The pain still searing through her focused on the scar on her left ear, pressing so much pain into that one spot, she thought the ear had been torn from her head.. Her mother told her when she was younger, she had gotten a hold on a kunai and nearly chopped her ear off, but now she wasn't so sure.

Sakura ran away from this reality to turn to another. Thinking about the scar, she remembered the way the rock had spliced through her skin when she tried to lie down in her future, yet past, life. Her thoughts went off the track, the train of thought derailing and falling into too many things at once.

Her best friend wasn't born yet, and at the same time she was. Here, her best friend was Rin Nohara, and in the future, it's Naruto Uzumaki. She becomes a medical ninja. She fights a lot. She falls for a raven-haired boy with the same personality as Kakashi, who also just happens to be her sensei, and a boy she is always angry around.

The thoughts and images crowded inside of her head, and something, or someone, known as Inner Sakura appeared and began to try and deal with it all. The Inner girl must have arrived with the pain, Sakura thought. She returned to the scene with her parents, reality, and tried to breathe a bit deeper, tried to fill her lungs with more air. The crying that came from the other side of the house echoed in the room, and her mother got up to save her younger sibling from whatever was ailing him. Sakura's father stayed by her side, his own breath coming out shakily. He continued to ask her if she was alright, but she found her voice unwilling to ensure him that she was. Perhaps it was because she wasn't so sure of that fact herself.

Just before losing consciousness, Sakura mumbled inaudibly, "I gotta hit..Kakashi...Punch hard.."


	3. Chapter 2

Sakura laid in her bed, fingers creasing and then smoothing over wrinkles in her bed sheets. It had been almost a year, she thought, almost a year since she had come to live on her own, despite her age. Her lips were wrung in a wriggling and forced smile, and she couldn't find the strength to make it genuine. Her hair was up in its usual no-nonsense bun that she used whenever she was training, her mother taught her how to do it, which was practically everyday, but it because it was smushed against the bed, the bun became frazzled and messy. Her shirt was a tight fitting maroon, her pants black shorts that she could easily run in. Today, today she wouldn't be training. Today she would be competing for a right to call herself a Chuunin. Today, she would make her parents proud.

It had been two years since her vision nearly erupted, and memories she knew were hers slammed into her brain. Being eleven now, she was used to composing her thoughts and now had somewhat of a control over her memories and thoughts, ensuring the two groups, the past and the ones from the present, did not merge. She couldn't help it, sometimes, though. She could remember her first Chuunin exam, which was slightly disheartening because this was her first Chuunin exam. The only difference was this wasn't the future Konoha Chuunin exam she knew.

She was made a Genin soon after that terrorizing event, when two lives came to meet one time, and her team, much to her excitement, included kids she didn't know, and didn't want to know. She had been so focused on sorting her memories from the here and now and the futuristic past, that she hadn't learned either of their names in the two years she had trained with them. That was fine, though. She would. Eventually.

An eleven year old Rin Nohara tapped on her window, just as Sakura knew she would. She would have to think about her other life another time, but there was no getting around living now. She had to pass this exam, Rin told her so.

Sakura hopped up from her bed and jumped over to the window, pulling it open with little strain. It hadn't been used in ages, she herself always waking up before Rin for the past two years, and the amount of strength she had to use was proof of it. It wasn't much, but more than last time.

The two set off towards the place they had been instructed to go. Sakura had to keep her mouth shut for a majority of the journey, so as not to spill any details about what may happen, but Rin didn't mind. She was too excited about the upcoming exams and the prospect of a promotion, but Sakura was holding her tongue in case something slipped from her lips. She wasn't the careless girl she had been just years ago. She was quieter, and constantly being tortured with thoughts of what would happen to each and every face she came to know. It wasn't exactly the most normal of lives, but Sakura would live.

"Rin-chan! Sakura-chan!" Both turned towards the voices. Obito and Gai were rushing towards them with an intense speed, most likely to try and best one another. Both girls waved towards the duo, and Sakura continued to do so when she spotted a masked boy making his way over to them, lagging behind the speedy duo. She kept doing this until he finally lifted a hand to wave back.

She grinned, and began to speak to the two newest members in their group. Kakashi had already taken the Chuunin exams, a long time ago if she remembered correctly, which was almost never the case now, and had passed. Whatever he was coming for, it would likely not be good for any of the trio.

* * *

Sakura's foot slammed into her opponent's chest, a gut wrenching and sickening splat following as blood left his lips and painted across her right cheek. She watched as he began to fly back, but she was faster. She was suddenly behind him, her fist sailing into his back, forcing him forward again.

He was rising from his spot on the ground, she observed. Something inside of her, someone inside of her, screamed for her to place him in a genjutsu until he passed out. She didn't know how to do that, though. Genjutsu wasn't her specialty, ninjutsu was. Her thoughts had enraptured her again, and she was paying for it. Something rammed into her neck, forcing her to the ground. She looked up into agitated oceans of red. Shutting down her thoughts, she acted purely on instinct, and before she knew it, she was coming out as the victor.

She wasn't done yet, however. She knew this as she trudged over to the sidelines. That was her second battle of the day, and surely there would be many more. When she finally got over to her desired location, she waited for the next battle to begin.

"Might Gai versus Hatake Kakashi." The speaker droned, reading off the names given from the random selector. With that said, Sakura dismissed any thought of taking a drink or seeking out medical attention, now. She was far too curious at the outcome of this battle. The odds were weighing heavily in Kakashi's favor, being as he is supposedly superior to Gai, but perhaps Gai would still win this? Gai had already beaten Obito, Kakashi would just be another scar on his skin, perhaps?

Her hands crossed over each other, and she felt her chakra swirling into her veins, relieving tension and healing small wounds she had received in her last battle. The most severe of wounds would have to be checked out by a medic nin, as they littered her back, but she was confident she could get these scratches done on her own. She silently thanked her past self for learning medical ninjutsu in her time.

"You know how it ends, why are you even here?" Someone startled the pinkette, and she looked around for the person who had scared her. All other competitors were getting wounds checked out, and the sideline corner she was in was empty, save for herself. The voice continued, "But if you want a spoiler, Gai loses and his rivalry with the elusive Copy Nin of Konohagakure grows even more intense." After another minute of searching, she found that the voice was not coming from outside, but rather, inside. Something was beckoning for her attention, someone. Was it that awful devil-like thing that found so much joy in tormenting her? Her Inner?

She was given no time to contemplate the answer, the winner of this round was announced. Sakura, flustered, knew the outcome was exactly what her Inner had said it would be. Kakashi emerged the victor, and when Gai staggered into the sidelines constructed for spectators and competitors alike to watch, he was spouting about intensifying his training to better his rival once and for all. "Congratulations, Kakashi-sens-ah..Kakashi-san!" He cast a quizzical glance in her direction, which she waved away.

After another hour of waiting, her final battle was about to begin. Energy coursed through her veins, as well as a strange sense of nervousness. She had passed with flying colors up until now, and the pool of Shinobi left would leave her with a likely chance to face off against someone she knew.

At the moment, Rin was facing off against a Shinobi she didn't know. He seemed to be a formidable opponent, basing off of the sheen of sweat that painted across Rin's forehead. Sakura was likely next to go up, there wasn't very many people left at all, now that she realized it.

In her left ear, Gai was bantering and ranting about how his last match proved Kakashi to be the only one who could possibly be his rival. To her right, Kakashi was straightening his mask, as though some unseen force had shifted it. Maybe it was just itchy. Sakura didn't really care, she was too enamored by the scene in front of her.

She watched, intrigued, as Rin and the Shinobi matched each other fist for fist, kick for kick. It seemed to be a stalemate. The moment one would launch a kick, the other would block it and use that time to try and punch them, which would then be blocked, and the cycle would continue. It went on like this for several more minutes, until finally, Rin had gotten one last good hit in, and the Shinobi was pronounced unconscious.

Sakura opened her lips and cheered as hard as she could, her voice hoarse and scratchy in the few moments it had taken Rin to cover the arena grounds over to her and the others. She could feel eyes on her, but she didn't care. Rin was now a Chuunin, and she was going to be one soon, too.

* * *

"You know," Sakura finally spoke, breaking the silence between them. "You're not so bad." She cast a glance towards her companion, who simply snorted. He hadn't even bothered to look at her. It was childish for her to feel so offended at such a thing, but she felt deeply offended. "I take that back." She growled, immediately standing up.

She didn't leave, however. Not yet, anyway. As a small breeze passed through the village, ruffling her loose shorts and tossing her hair to the side, she then decided she disliked Hatake Kakashi immensely, though she didn't know why.

Suddenly, and painfully, she remembered the day she got her memories back, two years ago. Turning towards the white haired male, she grinned maliciously and raised her fist in his direction. He didn't have time to look up before she gave him the punch he so rightfully deserved.

* * *

Sakura buckled over, her fingers digging into tender flesh as she retched to her hearts content, much to the dismay of her stomach. Fluids poured from her lips at the speed of her tears, which was rather quickly. Had she opened her eyes, she might have seen bits and pieces of the rolls she had eaten three days prior. She had gotten them from the hospital, which always had horrid food quality, but this was a bit much.

Tears rained down, blending into the brownish gray liquid already on the ground. By then, the hand preventing her from falling face first into the vomit was already covered with the stuff, but she didn't care. Someone was patting her back, but she didn't care. Someone was calling out to her, but she didn't care. She was vomiting so hard her eyes stung and if she had opened them, she wouldn't be able to see anyway, but she didn't care.

What she did care about, however, was the fact that her best friend, Rin Nohara, was dead. She had always known it would happen, even before the full reboot of memories, but it still hurt so damned much.

Someone tried to lift her and force her to stand, but the second they let go, she crumbled down to the earth again, narrowly missing the pool of vomit and laying in a heap next to it. Her arms were not so lucky, however, and they had splashed into the chunky puddle which suddenly seemed like a pond. She was dry heaving, now. There was nothing left in her stomach to add to the pool, but not that Sakura minded.

Whoever had tried to help her obviously thought she was dying, because minutes after she crashed to the ground, a foreign chakra was pushing into her and probing her system.

Could Medic-Nin's detect a wound if it lacerated the heart but not physically? She would have given anything to have her heart actually damaged so she could just hide in the earth, however many feet it would take to cover her dead and decaying body, and let death shadow over her.

After what seemed like forever, Sakura cracked open a disgustingly encrusted eye. She had released everything in such a position, the liquid had actually mixed with her tears on her face, covering what would likely be her forehead, she felt it stuffing up her nose, and it was clearly over her eyes. She must have been quite the lovely sight.

When she did open her eyes, she saw the grossly large pool of puke that rested beside her, quivering in the gentle gusts of wind that passed through the village and onto her emotionally broken and battered body. When she looked up from that, her eyes met those of Hatake Kakashi's. A steady heat flowered over her when she saw a twinge of regret in those eyes, and in that instant she decided he deserved so much more than just a punch.

* * *

Sakura had taken to avoiding Kakashi since that day, she realized slowly. She hadn't seen it as avoiding, really, but what else could it be called when you took the time to move around anywhere and everywhere one particular person might be, even going as far as to cut off ties from his best friend, Gai?

She hummed to herself emptily in thought. She had been trying to get away from Gai, hadn't she? She nodded to herself. "First Obito, then Rin, and now Gai?" Sakura couldn't count herself entirely too fond of the green-clad Shinobi, but he was still somewhat of a friend. To an extent. "How much more will that boy take from me? How much more will Hatake reap from my life?"

Sakura shuddered with anger, practically shivering from the intense sensation that came with that emotion. The nick behind her ear that stung at the mere mention of his name, burned a little warmer. It was much more painful than before, now that she had been the one to say that name. It was forbidden to her, cast off in her own mind, so much so she actively kicked him out of conversations whenever he was brought up. Understandably so, he had been the one to take so much from her, hadn't he?

But was this not the life of a Shinobi? To lose everything before you can gain anything? Had he really been the one to steal from her, or had it been the life they had all chosen? No, she nodded to herself. It was all his fault.

Footsteps echoed behind her, and she detected his chakra before she whipped her head around to face him, her stance immediately defensive, but slowly draining into one of opposition, one that was nearly implied she was going for an attack, had she had a weapon in hand. The look in his eyes proved that he, the 'Great Kakashi', was wary of her, a mere child in the eyes of most Shinobi. And he had every right to be. On the off chance that she did run into him, it was all too much to hope that she would keep her hands to her sides, and in most of their skirmishes, he had left with something broken, and she was not unscathed either, her bruised and bloody knuckles often telling who she had recently seen. But she was in no mood to fight today, so her hostile glare would have to do.

A shadow crossed her mind as he lifted his hand to his head and scratched it idly. He suddenly looked much older, like the Kakashi-sensei she knew, and not the Kakashi-san she hated. She allowed the reason for this vision to fall back on the conclusion she had drawn up a little while ago, the decision that she suddenly became insane when he was near her.

"Eh-yo." He beckoned to her, and she stood from where she sat, prepared to draw a shuriken at a moments notice. As if getting the hint, he suddenly spun on his heels and began walking in the opposite direction.

She didn't relax until minutes after he was out of sight, and even then, she was wary.

* * *

Sakura looked up at the Hokage Mountain wistfully, her eyes tracing over every crack and blemish on the rocks as best as she could with her distance from the mountain. She vaguely wondered if the same cracks and marks she remembered would be there, but she shook the thought from her mind as quickly as it came, the thought still leaving her with the sense of nostalgic sadness.

She was thirteen, now, well on her way to becoming a Jounin, and she still couldn't tell what memory was from what era without having to dive deep into it. She had tried to organize them, and for awhile she thought she had, but that was too much to hope for. The memories affected her every day, pain often lashing onto her body if she tried to ignore the memories of the futuristic past for too long, although the pain often attacked her heart and her eyes more than anything else. Here she was, living in this world that is not new to her, and yet it's older than it should have been. In this world, she knew exactly how it was going to play out up until her last breath who knows how many years into the future. She knew who died and who lived, what clan is eradicated and which clans thrive.

With that last thought, she winced heartily. In her prior life, she acknowledged she was fourteen years younger than Kakashi-san. In around one year, Uchiha Sasuke would be born, and then it's just a countdown until Itachi betrays not only the village, but his entire clan.

"Something on your mind?" Sakura jumped at the sound of a voice. The body it belonged to had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, but it was obvious he had been there awhile. She looked into the heavy gaze of Hatake Kakashi, who added, "You've been staring at the Hokage Mountain for twenty minutes," Had she really been thinking about the future for that long? She couldn't believe her speculation of her previous life, and not even its entirety but rather small chunks of knowledge, would take such a long time to think about. "It's weird."

She turned her gaze away from him, returning it back to where it had been for the twenty minutes Kakashi had mentioned. In all honesty, she was surprised that he was even talking to her. Not only was he an elite, ANBU, but he was a grieving man who preferred to do such in solitude. She left him to his own world as she re-entered hers. She had given up trying to ignore him or pummel him to death on sight, that was a childish thing to do, and she no longer viewed herself as a child. She studied the mountain with a deep focus as several thoughts crossed her mind.

There was something missing in that Mountain. Like there always had been, four faces looked down on Konoha, but there was something missing among those four. Sakura knew exactly what that something was. She normally fell back on memories from her old life to find out, and this case was not an exception. Her former Shishou's face, which she had looked up to for a very very long time, yet no time at all, should be next to the Fourths. Thinking about the woman, Sakura allowed her most recently asked set of questions to cross her mind. Why? Why had Tsunade-sama sent her back here? What was she supposed to stop, who was she supposed to stop so her inevitable demise would be something that could be avoided?

She glanced at Kakashi, who was studying her carefully from the corner of his eye, and not making an effort to hide it. Did he know what was coming? The Nine Tails? Did he know he would lose Minato-sensei, and eventually mentor the child his sensei had fought so hard to protect?

No, of course he didn't. And he wouldn't, not for a long time.

Sakura's already down mood dampened even further. This boy had lost a lot, more than she had, and he was going to lose more. She wished she'd thought of that before pushing him away at every and any chance.

* * *

Sakura laid in her bed, her head pressed into the pillow so deeply, the material had been forced skywards, muffling over her ears. She continued to slam her head deeper into the mattress, as deep as she could go without damaging herself or her bed, the pillow could not have the same benefit, however. It was sporting a thin tear from the fingers the clawed at the material, and its wounds were only getting deeper as she dug her nails deeper into the fabric, the poor thing was bleeding out, it's stuffing falling in heaps on the bed, and she could not stop it.

Her eyes were wide open, bloodshot. Red veins reached out to green irises. She could not remember her eyes ever being so dry, they were like miniature deserts, painful and void of moisture. Still, she did not blink, her thoughts ensured that much.

It was the evening after her odd meeting with Hatake Kakashi, and nothing seemed right in her little world. In around a year, Naruto would be born. Sasuke would be born.

She would be born.

Could they both coexist together? Both Sakura's? They did not share the same last name, nor did they share the same heritage, but they were the same person. One was of the past, the other had a brilliant future. What happened when the world couldn't handle it? How would she be expected to stay out of her own life, when she wanted to prevent every bad thing from ever happening? What would happen if she effectively stopped what had killed her the first time, would her life be erased but then repeated because she had not existed to stop it, causing some crazed and never ending paradox?

She took a few moments to breathe, desperately wishing her best friend, Rin, was still with her. She desperately clung to unspoken words and breaths no longer taken in nor exhaled. She had always known, since she got the muddled memories put into her head where they 'Rightfully belonged' how Rin would die, but that didn't make losing her any less painful.

The eggshell nightgown fluttered, and Sakura realized she was standing, and steadily moving towards the window. She tried to stop her body, but it was no use. Within moments, her feet were racing along dirt paths, and her nightgown was becoming an off shade of brown at the hem.

Where was she going? Why couldn't she stop? She opened her lips to scream, but the sound died in her lips as her feet abruptly halted. When she looked up from the ground, she realized she was at the Memorial Stone, but she was not alone.

Hatake Kakashi was studying her with questioning eyes.


End file.
